On January 2nd I almost cut two fingers off. They have healed, the scars are irritating but more and more feeling is coming back as time passes. I blamed the POS saw but equal blame should have gone to me. A friend loaned me his rigid contractor saw so I could try it out before making a decision. It is a nice little saw, smooth, and handled the squaring rip cut I did on some 8/4 walnut.

Problem was I was so tense during that cut that I realized it was not safe for me to be using the saw. All I could think about was the finger situation. Argh! this sucks.

If you use the safety guard your fingers and hands should safe. I only remove the guard when cutting a dado. If it is too narrow of cut I use the bandsaw to rip. So get back and make some things and your fear will go away.

I have the same opinion about routers. I haven’t hurt myself with one but I have had a few closer than I like calls to make me really hate the things. I still use them when I have to but I have turned to other tools like hand planes to do a lot of things I would have taken a router out of the box for before.

The saying “once bitten; twice shy” comes to mind. Until you get over the shy thing, it is best to stay away from the saw. The psychological effect may take some time to get over. I’ve had close calls with power tools before, but instead of fearing them, I learned to respect them for what they can do. My only advise is to know your tool inside and out and keep focused at all times. Don’t get distracted when working; don’t use a dangerous tool when you are tired or in a bad frame of mind. Most accidents are caused by being distracted. That’s where being focused comes in. There has to be only one thing in your mind when working around a dangerous machine and that is the machine itself and what it is doing. Please forgive an old adage from an old man: “When you fall off a horse, you must get back on right a way”.

Took a chunk out of my left index finger last year due to an “unforeseen” accident with my table saw.Totally empathise with your situation as my finger has healed, as good as it’s gonna get,but there is still a tiny mental scar.Time is part of the healing process, and I think MrRon has covered all the bases re. adviceabout how you should proceed.If you follow his advice, your confidence will grow enough for you start simple projects again and you will soon be back on the proverbial horse.All the best, it does get better.Cheers, Jinky (James).

My first experience with a table saw resulted in a kick-back to the chest. WAHHHHHH! Table saws suck!!! Right? Wrong!No fence, splitter, guard, and a stupid operator (me).Took me several years to get over the fear.Now my TS is the mainstay in the shop. It has been a learning experience. I’m still cautious.Still have all my ribs and fingers.Bill

I’m terrified of my jointer, but I have learned to just use it anyway. I actually find the TS less intimidating. At least it slices things off cleanly. The jointer desires to pull your entire body in and really doesn’t leave much room for injuries less severe than a peeled apart palm…ugh. I would suggest Sawstop

The way I look at these sorts of things is to ask myself “where does it stop”? I have cut myself badly with many different edge tools over my life but could not imagine a happy life for me if I didn’t use them again. A car accident, being hit by a car as a pedestrian or while biking, etc… are all example of this, and even more so IMO. With our tools at least we are mostly in charge of the situation.

After narrowly keeping my fingers, only slicing open a 1/2 section on my thumb I was extremely timid, in fact I still don’t use my TS as much as I used to.

What I did was I just made sure that i was extra-safe. That means that my Fingers don’t even get close to the blade any more. Basically if I ever felt unsafe I just clamped and if necessary screwed my work pieces straight into my TS sled. Sure I burnt through my sled a lot quicker, but I got over my fear.

I still deal with the TS with a healthy dose of respect but I don’t screw every piece into the sled anymore. So just start doing it and on the first few times, steer your hands way clear of the blade, have your clamps and screws hold the workpiece down. After a while you will feel safe(er). Mind you though – after 8 months my feelings towards my TS are still more timid than they were before, but that is a good thing, because I was being damn near reckless with the thing before.

I had a close call with a kickback that flew back and hit the wall behind me. I’m glad I stood away from the direct view of the blade. I also had a minor accident when I was learning how to use my router. Stupid me thought I could slow down the router bit when shut off so I could change it faster. It took a very tiny piece of my pinky flesh with it. Nothing bled and everything healed but this taught me to respect the tool and don’t get distracted. Just remember where your hands are at all times.

Youch; sorry to hear about your accident. I hope the fingers and your self-confidence continue to heal.

If I had an accident, I wouldn’t have thought twice before getting a SawStop. A sliding table saw might be a satisfactory solution, too, but I haven’t looked into them very in-depth. Like others said, the only way to get over any fear is to confront it.